Timuel Black's endorsement of Lori Lightfoot

Press Release – Professor Timuel D. Black, Jr., noted Chicago civil rights activist and historian, endorses Lori Lightfoot for mayor

Mar 21, 2019

Civil rights leader and scholar Timuel D. Black today announced his support for Lori Lightfoot in the current mayoral runoff election. Black, a career educator and author of several major volumes on the history of Chicago’s African-American community, released a statement about the mayoral race:

“I’ve been listening to political candidates for most of my 100 years of living. I feel confident that I can discern quality, intellect, and integrity when I hear it. I’ve been impressed by Lori’s thoughtful discussion of the complex issues we face as a city, and her commitment to make essential changes.

“Above all, I am so proud that we will have two African-American women in leadership positions When Lori becomes mayor, we will have two strong, accomplished and dedicated female executives–one in charge of the City of Chicago and the other in charge of Cook County. This is good news for the city, the county and the State of Illinois, and women especially can take great pride in this historic moment. That’s why I support Toni Preckwinkle to remain as the President of the Cook County Board, and I’m supporting Lori to take on the mantle of mayor.

“We will prove that we truly ‘hold these truths to be self-evident’–that all human beings are created equal. I’m just so pleased that I am here to witness this momentous event in our history. I’ll be casting my vote for Lori Lightfoot on April 2.”

“Dr. Timuel Black is a living legend and I am so honored to receive his endorsement for mayor,” said Lightfoot. “As an educator, a historian, and a civil rights activist, Dr. Black has always stood on the side of justice and fought to empower the disadvantaged and the dispossessed. As mayor, I will always strive to live up to Dr. Black’s immense legacy and work to lift up voices that are too often ignored.”

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WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Susan Klonsky and Tim Black talk oral history and Sacred Ground on Hitting Left radio. 

Timuel Black

 Change is going to come. How will you participate in making that change the one that you would like to have? Because the other side will have people participating to keep it like it is or make it go back the other way. Trump says ‘make America great again.’ My attitude is, make America like it ought to be. -- Chicago Tribune review of  'Sacred Ground'.

Susan Klonsky

...who wrote the book with Black, said the two aimed to “document a fairly typical story of the life of a community.” It just so happens this community was where Harold Washington had ties, former President Barack Obama started on his political path, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made a stand on desegregating housing in the Chicago area. (Black invited King to visit and speak in the city as early as 1956 and helped to organize the notable march on Washington in 1963.) -- Tribune review

L.A. teacher/striker Larry Strauss

Overcrowded classrooms are a brutal expression that our students don’t matter. They are someone else’s kids – and all too often they are no one’s kids. -- Guardian

L.A. teacher/striker Cristopher Bautista

Bautista was teaching “Cannery Row,” John Steinbeck’s classic tale of Central Coast haves and have-nots. “I’ve been teaching about the [Los Angeles] strike to my kids,” Bautista said on Day 5 of the UTLA walkout, which ended last week with the union making incremental gains in wages, classroom sizes and support staff. Bautista sees thematic overlap between Steinbeck’s book and the L.A. work stoppage, which drew international attention. “It’s about class struggles, what people need to get by, low pay. There are parallels.” -- L.A. Times

Actress Alyssa Milano

“The red MAGA hat is the new white hood.” -- The Wrap

Ann Coulter

... on Believing Trump’s Wall Promises: “OK, I’m a Very Stupid Girl”. -- Slate

On Saturday mornings Lindsey Graham stays in his nightshirt, with cucumber slices over his eyes, sipping gin-spiked Earl Grey in his darkened boudoir while the woman he's hired to impersonate his mother plays Debussy and calls him "my sweet little blonde bunny"

— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) January 26, 2019

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

A meeting held Sunday at a packed auditorium at CTU headquarters had
the vibe of a victory rally. Several dozen union members sang and
performed a dance onstage swapping the words to the popular “Baby
Shark” song with verses such as “fair contract,” “smaller class” and
“we just won.”

CTU Prez Jesse Sharkey

“Across the country, we were told that education is the key to the future, but then we saw political leaders starve our schools, keep resources out of the classroom. We’ve seen taxes cut so wealthy people can have tax breaks, teacher pay stagnate while class sizes skyrocket, classes become bare-bones and not get the resources they need. We’ve seen people take to the street across the country to protest against that, and now it’s coming to the charter industry too. It’s about time.” -- USA Today

Katie Cannady, Acero kindergarten teacher 

“Why do we think it’s okay to expect teachers in one part of the city to work for this amount and teachers in another part of the city to work for different amount and then expect us to have the same results under very different working conditions?” -- USA Today

Martha Baumgarten, a fifth-grade teacher at Acero’s Carlos Fuentes Elementary School and a member of the bargaining team. 

“They’ve been crying broke, when in fact they’re flush with cash." -- Salon

Prof. Timuel Black

Lonnie Bunch on Tim Black's 100th birthday

“What is really important to me, is that Tim is also the keeper of the flame. He keeps the history of black Chicago alive, reminding us that civil rights is an ongoing struggle." -- Timuel Black — historian, civil rights activist, griot

Head of IL legislative Progressive Caucus, Rep. Will Guzzardi

Recently threw down an online gauntlet about how Illinois “must not” follow the lead of Colorado Democrats, who after taking over their state’s legislature have now signaled that they’ll be more open to negotiations with the business community. 

“People elected us because we said we'd make their lives better. Raise their wages, provide decent benefits, make college and healthcare more affordable, etc. We ran on this. We won. And now... we run away? If so, why vote for us at all?” -- Rich Miller in The Southern

State Dept. Spokesman on US opposing UN global warming report

 “The United States was willing to note the report and express appreciation to the scientists who developed it, but not to welcome it, as that would denote endorsement of the report. As we have made clear in the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] and other bodies, the United States has not endorsed the findings of the report.” -- Washington Post

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Susan Klonsky introduces Timuel Black at Sunday's event. 

First Unitarian Church of Chicago honors Timuel Black

But we are not in church this morning to memorialize a man still with us, nor to place him on a pedestal out of reach. Timuel is a teacher, always, and the teacher’s work with students is perpetually to say: "You can do this, too." -- At Sunday's event

Chance the Rapper

 It’s not too late for CPS to make the right decision and change course. This moment could set a precedent for future school closings and end the displacement in education that has plagued CPS history. In the fight for equal education, it is imperative that we all stand with NTA. -- Chicago Tribune

Chicago police officer Dora Fontaine

“They asked me if it would be better [for me] to come in” and work a desk, she testified. “Other officers were calling me a rat, a snitch and a traitor and saying that they wouldn’t back me up.” -- Sun-Times

Michelle Obama

 "And it’s not always enough to lean in, because that shit doesn’t work all the time.” -- New York Magazine

Chicago mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot

 “It seems all these other folks are running for cover and don’t want to talk about [Ald. Eddie Burke] but frankly, that underscores the fact that we’ve got different factions of the political machine manifested in Mendoza, Preckwinkle, Daley and Chico and others who don’t want to rock the boat because they are very much wedded to the status quo... It’s telling that they aren’t willing to step up and say, ‘Look, this guy  has been in office way too long, and he's been allowed to amass way too much power.’ ” -- Chicago Tribune

David Leonhardt, NYT opinion piece

But I do know this: American capitalism isn’t working right now. If [corporate CEO] Benton and his fellow postwar executives returned with the same ideas today, they would be branded as socialists. -- When C.E.O.s Cared About America

A retro trend in Chicago politics

Bill Daley, the man from JPMorgan.

They used to call it "plantation politics." The Tribune's Clarence Page has traced the origins of the metaphor to refer to the old Daley political machine in Chicago, a regime built on racism, patronage and corruption that ruled the city for decades.

A Dec. 13, 1987, Chicago Tribune article traced the phrase to a speech that political consultant Don Rose wrote in 1966 for [then aldermanic candidate] Timuel Black's crusade against the Democratic machine of Mayor Richard J. Daley. It later became a rallying cry in Harold Washington's successful 1983 campaign to become the city's first black elected mayor.

It's hard for me to believe that more than 50 years later, this city's voters, especially African-American voters, will opt to return to Daley-style politics, especially at a time when progressive candidates of color are chalking up victories over old-guard Democrats here, and in cities and towns across the country. And yet, here we are, with Bill Daley--a personification of old plantation politics, only now with a boatload of corporate cash at his disposal, and a stint in the Obama administration on his resume--opportunistically jumping into the mayor's race now that Rahm Emanuel has pulled out.

“I would not do that to a friend,” he explained, as to why he didn’t enter the race earlier.

It must be noted that the inability of the city progressives -- the 2015 Bernie Sanders coalition -- to unite around a black or Latino candidate early in the race, has opened the door wide for a return of the machine. As has the inability of anybody in the current field to move beyond single digits in the polls.

TALE OF TWO CITIES...To those who would argue that we've moved beyond racial politics in Chicago, I would have them look at this recent survey showing how different the city looks, depending on which racial or class lens you're looking through.

One example: A stunning 97 percent of white college graduates—83 percent of them “strongly"—said they "would recommend living in my neighborhood in Chicago to a friend or family member." That’s near-universal approval, and an indication that parts of the city now have huge appeal, at least to certain demographic groups.

But among African-American college graduates, the “strongly agree” figure drops to 48 percent, and among all Hispanics (not just college grads) to 41 percent.

Similarly, 58 percent of white college grads indicated they strongly believe Chicago is a good place to get a job, but only 47 percent of non-college whites concurred, and 29 percent of blacks.

No matter the perception, Chicago's become a near-impossible place for many, if not most, to live, work, or raise a family. Not only is the plantation gone (too many revolts), but so is the industrial era as well. Thus, the shocking mass exodus of displaced African-American families from the city and its school system and the attempt to replace them with wealthier, corporate, white techies and professionals.

Crain's editorial graphic

A Crain's Chicago Business editorial posted their corporate agenda (Next mayor must keep business at top of City Hall priority list).

Here's hoping one of the mayoral wannabes takes a plank from Emanuel's platform and fights for the interests of business. And if none of the current contenders is smart enough to do so, here's hoping a better candidate emerges.

A day later Bill Daley announced his candidacy. Coincidence? I think not.

Boycott of mayor's MLK Breakfast was effective

Timuel and Zenobia Black with keynoter, Rev Sekou at Chicago Teachers Union King Day Breakfast.

The Mayor's MLK Day Breakfast was a complete bust. The boycott called by a coalition of black ministers was effective. Protests outside and inside, disrupted the mayor's pathetic attempt to clean up his image. The turnout was so sparse, Rahm had to bus in the hungry from the senior citizens homes to fill the empty seats.

Keynoter Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of Other Suns backed out. They had to pay Dorothy Tillman a hefty fee to replace her. Sad.

But a mile west...
The Tribune reports:

A mile west, at the teachers' MLK breakfast in the South Loop, CTU president Karen Lewis said she had little interest in whether Emanuel resigns, though her own union's governing body has called for him to quit. The mayor has said he'll serve out the remaining three years on his term. 

"I don't care what he does," Lewis said. "Somebody else, maybe worse, would take his place." 

While the often-combative Lewis sounded conciliatory, the featured speaker at the breakfast, the Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, brought hundreds of attendees to their feet.

"Mayor Emanuel, it's time for you to step down!" said Sekou, who was involved with civil rights demonstrations that followed the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. "Stand down, have integrity."

Police wrestle with protesters at the mayor's boycotted King Day event. 

This morning...
BYOP100CHI-led protesters have marched on the FOP bank and shut it down. Damn, I didn't even know they had a bank. Public funds are being used to support Van Dyke and other killer cops.

Breaking: @BYP_100 members shut down #chicago federal police bank to #fundblackfutures #ReclaimMLK pic.twitter.com/Bf7JhMwyF1

— Deivid Rojas (@DeividSRojas) January 16, 2016

A week to go until election day. Rahm's kissing babies. Telling lies.

“As it relates to education, ‘Anybody but Rahm’ is the mantra I hear.” -- Rose Joshua, president of the NAACP’s Southside branch. 

Rahm is bombarding us every 15 minutes, it seems, with slick, expensive TV ads. What the hell, he's got $30+ million in his whore war chest. He's kissing babies, eating grits and enchiladas, and posing with the JRW Little League players every chance he gets. Problem is -- he can't seem to move the needle past 45% and he needs 50+ to avoid an embarrassing run-off. He's still the most hated man in Chicago and between the red-light cameras and the cavernous pot holes opening up again around the city, me and thousands of others are cursing the mayor's name with every bump.

Rahm's ads are now directed personally at Jesus "Chuy" Garcia who polls show is his strongest challenger. The ads are negative, horrific, filled with lies and deception. No surprise there. Smells like David Axelrod's work.

Chuy Garcia's campaign has countered with a good one, with two of my favorites, Prof. Timuel Black, 95, and Asean Johnson, 11-- discussing Rahm's school closures. Don't miss.

SYMBIOSIS -- People are still talking about Daley's endorsement. Everyone knows how much former Mayor Richie Daley and the Daley family despise Rahm, who has blamed all of his failed education and crime policies on his predecessor. But Chicago politics is a complex weave of interests. For a primer, take a look at Tim Novak's piece, "Daley nephew Patrick [Daley] Thompson — running for alderman — faces conflicts", in today's S-T. It helps explain the overlapping interests of the Daley family and Rahm's Democratic political machine.

Thompson recused himself from voting 10 more times last Nov. 6 — seven of those votes related to a $300 million deal involving Daley’s law firm, Katten Muchin, and financial behemoth Morgan Stanley, which Thompson’s cousin, William Daley Jr., works for as a lobbyist. The bonds — to pay for Deep Tunnel and other construction projects — were issued shortly before Christmas. Katten Muchin got paid $132,719. Morgan Stanley got $66,556.

Stephanie Simon's piece in today's POLITICO, "Education at heart of Chicago mayor's race", explains the high stakes involved in this election. It's not just about Chicago.

Simon says:

 But if Emanuel wins despite the unions’ best efforts, analysts say it would embolden other Democratic reformers to forge ahead with a controversial agenda that includes closing struggling neighborhood schools, expanding privately run charter schools and overhauling the teaching profession by repealing tenure, trimming benefits and paying teachers in part based on how well their students score on standardized tests.

Portions of this agenda are already being championed by high-profile Democrats including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy — and, most notably, by Emanuel’s one-time boss in the White House, President Barack Obama. But the reform camp predicts more mayors, in particular, will be willing to jump into the fray if Emanuel proves that a big-city Democrat can defy the teachers union, anger a whole lot of black and Hispanic parents — and still pull off a win against liberal rivals in his own party.

VOTE!

Chuy's support growing in the black community

Civil Rights veteran Timuel Black leads parade of endorsers for Chuy Garcia

THIS MORNING... more than 100 African-American community leaders and activists endorsed Chuy Garcia for Mayor and helped celebrate the opening of the campaign's newest office. Perhaps there's hope after all.

NYPD: Arrest only when you "really have to"

“He [Mayor de Blasio] is not running the City of New York. He thinks he’s running a f- -king revolution,” said Lynch, head of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, during the private gathering in Queens last Friday. -- NY Post

Ah, if only it were so. After years of scandal, corruption and police shootings, a revolution within the department is precisely what's needed.

The aptly-named head of New York's police union, Pat Lynch now says the city's cops are striking back with a counter-revolution of their own, aimed at the citizens of New York, especially those in the black community, hands-up, don't-shoot marchers and their elected mayor who got 73% of the vote. How are they going to strike back? Well, it's kind of a work stoppage.

The New York Post reports that NYPD officers are making arrests only "when they have to," leading to a massive drop in their response to low-level crimes.

It all makes you wonder -- Who and why were they arresting before this change of heart? And if they had only implemented the arrest-only-when-necessary approach, would Eric Garner and dozens of other young black men still be alive today?

Stovall

DAVID STOVALL TELLS IT ALL

Chicago is a hyper-segregated city. Despite rampant gentrification in certain areas, Chicago is not a city of neighborhoods but a city of universes. People can spend lifetimes here never experiencing certain parts of the city due to age-old demarcated lines that live in our minds and bodies.

 To uproot massive numbers of people without any accountability is criminal. But as we say around here, it’s the Chicago way. -- Cities in Revolt: Chicago

Needed -- 'Body cameras on bankers'

Some NBA hoopers wearing “I Can’t Breathe” shirts: LeBron James, Derrick Rose, Kevin Garnett, Kyrie Irving, Deron Williams, Jarrett Jack, Alan Anderson.

Matt Yglesias Tweets: "If your big worry is that water is too clean and children too well-nourished, here's some good news."

Yes, Republicans, threatening to shut down the government again, are preparing to roll back the school meal rules, phased in since 2012 and championed by first lady Michelle Obama, that require more fruits, vegetables and whole grains in the lunch line. The standards also limit sodium, sugar and fat.

Father Pfleger has a point

“Our justice system is broken. Body cameras don’t make a difference if we can see it and still don’t convict anybody.” -- Sun-Times

Rev. Jackson has a point--put cameras on bankers

The official reaction to police immunity for the killing of unarmed black boys and men Ferguson and Staten Island and Cleveland and Brooklyn has focused, not surprisingly, on the police. The president has created a Task Force on 21st Century Policy, with instructions to report in 90 days. He’s committed millions to put cameras on police. But he might be better advised to put cameras on bankers. Reckless, unaccountable and murderous police behavior must end, but the police are simply the gatekeepers assigned to keep order. -- Sun-Times

Tim Black's birthday party at Room 43.

Happy 96th to the great Professor Timuel Black. His birthday celebration Sunday night at Room 43 was over the top. And happy birthday to my favorite grandson, Oscar. The Big O turned 15 yesterday. Damn, that must make me...

On the Wolverine

Heading for Detroit on the Wolverine for the NDSG meeting. I love trains. A ticket to Motown -- $28 each way. Plus I got free upgrade from previous trips. I can't drive it for that and the travel time is about the same. Wish we had high-speed rail with a Chicago hub. I'd hardly ever fly.

Detroit power outage. A metaphor?

Power Struggle… Detroit schools continue to be a disinvestment basket case, even more so since the state takeover. The latest news is about school power outages which shut down 30 schools in the city Tuesday. Before Tuesday, schools had missed 130 days collectively through the end of January because of power outages. Now that number has climbed to 160.

While in Detroit, I'm hoping to see the Grace Lee Boggs and Jimmy Boggs school, a small school named after two of the heroes of the city's freedom movement. In a good piece in Huffington, Laura De Palma described the beloved community being created at the school, largely based on Dr. King's legacy.

She writes:

Many Detroiters have been resisting the city's emergency manager laws and the downtown corporate takeover and fighting to reinvent the city in a way that is just, transformative and paradigm-shifting. Activists in Detroit have been asking, "What kind of revitalizing does Detroit need at this point in history?" Gentrification and social entrepreneurship that ignores history and context and does not address the root causes of the economic disinvestment in the city of Detroit is not the kind of change we need.

Front Page...Check out the front page of today's Defender. It's Prof. Timuel Black still looking great at 95.

Go Portland...It looks like it's on in Portland. PPS leaders say they will try and scab out the strike. "We expect our regular PPS substitutes to work during a strike and plan to hire replacement teachers on a temporary basis while you are on strike," the document reads. "Staffing will be deployed where it is needed most." 

Right-wing Loony Tunes

EAG's Kyle Olson always appears on FOX in front of a faux bookcase. As if...

Right-wing loony Kyle Olson is at it again. You might remember Kyle as a guy who has made a career out of stalking teacher union activists, like my brother. You might also remember him and his EAG group for backing Rahm during the teachers' strike. Olson is a shade to the right of Rush Limbaugh, but his EAG group has a close affinity for Democrat Rahm's brand of union bashing. They even featured Rahm in one of their movies.

So what's Olson up to now? His latest "expose" produces a list of some of the many Chicagoans who signed on to a "letter of allegation" sent by The Midwest Coalition for Human Rights to the U.N.'s High Commission on Human Rights, asking the Geneva-based organization to watch for “potential domestic and international human rights violations” in Chicago when school starts this year.

The letter –- penned by University of Chicago law professor Sital Kalantry -- explains that school closures will force children to attend far-away schools, where they will have to travel through violent, gang-ridden communities. The letter suggests the school closings breach principles required in a number of international treaties signed by the U.S. It argues the closings violate the right to equality and non-discrimination in education, as they disproportionately affect minority students and students with disabilities and will result in lower-quality education for those affected.

The action comes alongside two federal lawsuits seeking injunctions to block the closure of the institutions by the nation’s third-largest public school district before the new school year begins.

The letter seems to have given Olson and his crew painful wedgies. His team of ace investigators (Did NSA or  Booz Allen help?) went right to work scanning the list of signers for any known rads, unionists, or civil rights leaders. And lo and behold, they came up with some of the usual suspects.

Among the signees: The Chicago Teachers Union, Action Now (formerly known as ACORN), domestic terrorist-turned-professor Bill Ayers, former Students for a Democratic Society leader-turned-professor Michael Klonsky, and retired professor and Barack Obama hero Timuel Black.

Great undercover work, Kyle. But let me just say that I'm proud to be in such esteemed company. And I don't mean yours.

News blackout on Monday's school closing protest

(Sarah-Ji Fotógrafa pic)

Monday night's huge Logan Square confrontation over school closings never happened. At least it never happened according to city media outlets (except for some Spanish language stations). Substance ran a story and Catalyst mentioned it. But not a peep in the Sun-Times or Trib. Oh well. I guess that's why we're here.

Today's Hyde Park Herald has a good piece on the Feb. 4 Mid-South hearings,  where parents and teachers from Reavis, Kozminski, Ray, Murray and Shoesmith elementary schools and Canter Middle School spoke out on behalf of their schools.

The Herald also continues to carry Timuel Black's Birthday Letter to President Obama. Don't miss.

To their credit, the Sun-Times did pick up on the press conference called by Parents 4 Teachers. The group filed a complaint alleging conflict of interest, saying the district is motivated to close schools not by a budget deficit but by a desire to expand charter schools. Of course, the S-T tries to discredit the parents group by referring to it as having "strong ties to the Chicago Teachers Union."  I think P4T should take that as a compliment.

The Sun-Times has also been doing a great job on the UNO charter-school corruption story, which reaches right into Rahm's office. Coverage includes a piece today on the resignation of their number-two exec, 8 days after the paper reported that the politically connected charter school operator paid state grant money to companies owned by two of his brothers. One of them, Miguel d’Escoto, who was UNO’s senior vice president of operations, under chief UNO charter hustler Juan Rangel, resigned “by mutual agreement.”

See how they run when someone shines a light on them.

The party's over...

"For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class." -- Pres. Obama

“One day we must ask the question, ‘Why are there forty million poor people in America?’ And when you begin to ask that question, you’re raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, “Where do We Go from Here?” (1967)

After all the heavenly words about "we the people" this and "the pursuit-of-happiness" that, and after the magic moment, the dance, and the gazing at Mrs. Obama's stunning Jason Wu gown and bangs haircut is over, we still come back down to earth, to a city where Obama's boys are killing us.

No need to look any further than Ben Joravsky's latest Reader piece, "Mayor Rahm channels his inner Herbert Hoover" where Ben refers to a picture the Tribune ran of the River Point ground-breaking scene, Mayor Rahm and a developer are laughing as if they're sharing a private joke.

The punch line of which is: Can you believe we get away with this shit? The caption under the photo reads: "Mayor Rahm Emanuel, seen here shaking hands with Daniel Fournier, CEO of property development firm Ivanhoe Cambridge, has been tapping into a network of venture capitalists, law firms and leaders of his economic-development team to build up his re-election war chest."

******

The word, education cannot be found even once in the president's speech and there is only one vague reference to "school reform." So I guess that means four more years without a re-authorization of ESEA, and by default, more years of Arne Duncan's devastating Race To The Top -- leveraging billions in federal ed dollars to push school closings, privately-run charter schools, mass teacher firings, and more testing madness.

On the positive side, there was a least a mention of poverty in the president's speech, and the fact that poor people even exist in this country and that we are all not middle class.

We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.

Then there was this, spoken at the very moment when a Democratic Illinois governor and the state's machine political bosses are leading the raid on the pensions and medical care of the elderly and inform.

And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice –- not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity, human dignity and justice.

Yes, fine words, Mr. President.  

*****

The confluence of Obama's second inauguration with Dr. King's birthday, led to another round of What would King do? debates. My old '60s SDS friend, Tom Hayden believes that MLK would have supported Obama [of course] and then privately and quietly counseled him on drones and Afghanistan. He might be right. Of course we can never know for sure. But I'd like to think that Dr. King would be out in the streets on Inauguration Day and not in tux and tails at Obama's side while school re-segregation is on the rise and U.S. drones and torture cells are central to administration foreign policy. As a product of the times, it's impossible for me to envision Dr. King as a supporter of any Race To The Top or union-busting charter schools.

Father Phleger

Chicago activist priest, Father Michael Pfleger tried to act in the King tradition. Instead of bearing witness to  Obama’s second inauguration in prime seats in Washington, D.C., he went to an Aurora High School Monday night with a Martin Luther King Day warning: The slain civil rights leader’s message must not be watered down, and he should not be treated like a history lesson.

 “Let me make it clear. If you’ve studied Dr. King, his message was prophetic, and his message was radical,”said Pfleger.

 Another man born and reared in the same tradition as King, Dr. Cornell West went ballistic over Obama's symbolic use of Dr. King's bible as his inaugural prop, which West called, "an affront to human rights."

Finally, I was overjoyed to see true King disciple (or was it the other way around?) and living legend, 94-year-old Prof. Timuel Black, receive his overdue Champions of Freedom Award and a Chicago street sign bearing his name. Among his other lifetime achievements, he led the organizing that went on around the historic March on Washington in 1963. Congrats again to my dear friend Tim.

Carrying on Dr. King's great struggle

"... For most of the past decade the field of education has been a battleground in the freedom struggle. It was not fortuitous that education became embroiled in this conflict. Education is one of the vital tools the Negro needs in order to advance. And yet it has been denied him by devises of segregation and manipulations with quality.' -- Dr. King's acceptance speech upon winning the John Dewey Award in 1964

Today marks the 84th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King. On this day, one can't help but take note that despite all the rhetoric coming from the political leadership about education being "the civil rights issue of our generation" it's shocking how little has been accomplished in fulfilling Dr. King's vision of ed equity and desegregation, during these first 4 years of the Obama administration. If anything, public schooling has become even more racially segregated and certainly more privatized than at any point since MLK's death in 1968.

Here in Chicago, to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, we will be doing what Dr. King probably would have been doing on his birthday were he still alive. We'll be once again on the march to Save Our Schools at one of seven North, West and South side locations on Saturday, January 19th. We will be fighting for our communities, our students and our schools, and speaking out against the planned mass closing of public schools, primarily in under-served black and Latino neighborhoods.

SALUTE TO TIM BLACK

 I am elated that Chicago's own great civil rights warrior, 94-year-old Professor Timuel Black, is getting some well-deserved recognition for his role on the front lines of the struggle. For those who don't know, Tim was Dr. King's point person here in Chicago in organizing the historic 1963 March on Washington. We will be  there to applaud him when he receives the Champion of Freedom award on Friday at the city's 27th Annual Interfaith Breakfast.

ABC News' Ron Majors reports:

He is a proud graduate of DuSable High School on the South Side. There, he is counted among the hall-of-famers. "In this building we had people like John H. Johnson, Harold Washington who became the first black Mayor, Nat King Cole. We used to be in the same classroom," said Black.  A few years after his high school experience, Black made another famous friend- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Black was so inspired, that he left a doctorate program at the University of Chicago to dedicate himself to civil rights work. He would become the Chicago chair of the 1963 March on Washington. "We organized the March on Washington over there in this neighborhood. Young people here in DuSable, participating in the organizing," said Black.

It's important to note that Tim led a fight to save his beloved DuSable from the chopping block. The school was turned over to private charter operators in 2005 as part of Daley/Duncan's disastrous Renaissance 2010.

Another brick...

Doug at Borderland responds to my Arne Duncan/"Ton 'O Bricks" posts with the classic Pink Floyd video, "Another Brick in the Wall."

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My brother Fred says, "someone's missing" from National Journal's new panel of expert education bloggers. What else is new?

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For any teacher, the city of Chicago is a great classroom. I held my class last night at the Harold Washington Library so students could hear Henry Louis "Skip" Gates holding forth on Lincoln's Bicentennial and other topics. My own focus is on reflective teaching practices and Gates really brings home the importance of personalization and story-telling, especially in his family-tree studies of African-Americans. Gates is the director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. But he calls Harvard, "an historically white university." Amen!

Special thanks to one of my heroes, Prof. Timuel Black, who dropped in to meet the students following the Gates talk. For those who couldn't make it, the Gates talk will soon be available on Chicago Amplified on WBEZ Chicago Public Radio.

Tim, Mavis, Chicagoans of the Year

I don't know what you did for lunch today, but I got to dine on salad and rubber chicken at the Ritz and see my friend Tim Black honored as one of 7 Chicagoans of the Year by Chicago Magazine. That was pretty cool. But even cooler (sorry Tim) was seeing another honoree, Mavis Staples who had us on our feet singing Will the Circle Be Unbroken and I'll take you there. I even got to take a picture with her. Check it out.

Quotables

President Obama's inaugural speech:

“Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many”

"Don't dismiss the symbolism..."

Chicago Tribune's John Kass quoting Tim Black:

Unlike some who raise expectations to manic heights, Obama has an extremely clear head. He's a rational man. He's not on Hopium. He's from Chicago. So is Dr. Timuel Black, 90 and of vital mind, the son of sharecroppers, a Chicago educator, civil rights activist and historian who like many is here in Washington to witness our new history.

"Certainly the symbolism of the inauguration is important," Black said. "Just think of all the mothers who'll sit with their sons and point to Barack Obama and say, 'This is what you can aspire to.' So you can't dismiss the symbolism. It is vitally important, and it speaks to pride, accomplishment and overcoming centuries of pain. I think of all the families here, and those watching at home, filling with pride at this unbelievable day."

I couldn't go but...

I'm elated that Tim Black is there.

From A.P. Wire, "In Chicago, everything stops for Obama Inauguration":

Ninety-year-old Timuel Black says he all but lost hope for the country when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert Kennedy were assassinated in 1968. Now he is going to Washington for an event he never thought he'd live to see..."This gives me a deeper faith and hope that the impossible we can do," said Black, the grandson of slaves who was once an adviser to King and is attending the inaugural at the invitation of Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin. "What we have accomplished ... I considered impossible."

Small Talk

Professor Timuel Black and his wife Zenobia are headed to D.C., tickets in hand, for the Inauguration. He's finally, at age 90, getting some of the recognition he deserves as an historian/educator/activist.

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So, it turns out that union contracts aren't the "boogey-man" barriers to reforming high schools as they are being portrayed. This according to a new study from the University of Washington.

One of the best minds around, Mike Rose, does some reflecting on Politics and Knowledge.

Tim Black's 90th birthday party

Obama sends a personal greeting

The Checkerboard Lounge on Chicago's south side, was jumping last night as a couple of hundred of us celebrated Tim Black's 90th birthday. The party was organized by Tim's wife Zenobia and the Chicago Jazz Institute. Chicago jazz legends, including Willie Pickens, Corey Wilkes, and Jimmy Ellis, filled the Lounge with great music. Congressman Bobby Rush hailed Tim as the movement's "field marshal" and the crowd, including politicians, community leaders and educators all joined in a rollicking version of Happy Birthday To Ya. But the high point of the evening was Sen. Dick Durbin's reading of a personal birthday greeting from no less than the President-elect himself.

Here's the full text of Barack Obama's messsage to Tim:

I wish I could be with you all in person today to celebrate the life of a dedicated teacher and one of the preeminent oral historians of our time, a man who keeps the soul of the South Side alive and shares his stories still, Professor Tim Black.

The Great Migration brought his family to Chicago's South Side, and the Great Depression started him down the long path of social justice. As a student at Burke Elementary School, he'd often walk across the street to hear the orators in Washington Park argue with passion for jobs that pay a fair wage, for protections to keep workers safe, for an economy that would allow families to live in dignity and dream of a brighter future.Little did they know among their greatest lasting impacts would be the achievements of the man we honor today.

Like my grandfather, he joined the army as a fresh-faced young man in World War II. And like my great uncle, he helped liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp. It was a moment that left a mark on this man; that left no doubt as to his destiny.He returned convinced by his life experiences that the greatest impact he could make on the next generation would be to teach our youth about their communities, about the world they live in, and about how to be responsible citizens of each.

For forty years, he shaped our young men and women into those citizens. And though he may have retired from the teaching profession nearly two decades ago, he never stopped being a teacher. We are all his students in a classroom that never closes.

Because of Professor Black, jazz has a place to call home in Chicago. Because of Professor Black, the rich and vibrant chronicles of Bronzeville and the greater South Side live on. Because of Professor Black, generations of youth have grown up with a better appreciation of their neighborhoods and the history they inherit.

The man we honor today grew up in the midst of Depression and war, yet considers himself part of a fortunate generation. And he's made it his life's mission to give each successive generation every possible chance in this world.

"I never lose hope," he once said. "I believe that I have responsibilities to help younger people to obtain hopes and dreams. Their present condition may be very discouraging; my aim is to help them regain a sense of hope for the future. My main interest is in building a better America, building a better world."

Tim, for your birthday, I promise you this: that will always be my mission too. Thank you for a life well-lived. I wish you all the best for the stories you've yet to tell.

Happy Birthday,

Barack Obama